Machine for assembling parts of lamps preparatory to basing



Jan. ll, 1955 M. E. McGowAN 2,698,987

MACHINE FOR ASSEMBLING PARTS OF LAMPS PREPARATORY TO BASING Filed Feb. 16, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet l p'fl/ff ATTORNEY Jan. l1, 1955 M. E. MCGOWAN 2,698,987'

MACHINE FOR AssEMBLING PARTS oF LAMPS PREPARATORY To BASIN@ Filed Feb. 16, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fiep/Ms ars/155s 1n I INVENTOR M. E Mc'l//V 40 AMAN/1 l L M ATTORNEY Jan. 11, 1955 M. E. MCGOWAN 2,698,987

MACHINE A EMBLING PART F LAMPS P ToRY To BASI Filed Feb. 16, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 .7 new @MMA-fsm INVENTOR ME McGl/t/A/ ATTORNEY E. MACHINE FOR ASSEMBLING PARTS OF' Jan. 11, 1955 M. McGowAN LAMPS PREPARATORY To BASING 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 16, 1950 www ATTORNEY United States Patent O MACHINE FOR ASSEMBLING PARTS OF LAMPS PREPARATURY T BASING Michael E. McGowan, Bloomfield, N. J., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application February 16, 1950, Serial No. 144,425

9 Claims. (Cl. 29-25.2)

This invention relates to assembling parts of lamps preparatory to basing.

The principal object of my invention, generally considered is to automatically adjust the leads of sealed envelopes of lamps and assemble bases therewith, preparatory to cementing said bases thereto.

Another object of my invention is to provide a conveyor with heads which are moved along to stations where sealed lamp bulbs are rst fed thereto, and by said conveyor moved along to other stations at which operations are performed on said bulbs adapting them for automatic assembly with bases which are fed to position from a hopper.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for threading a lamp lead into the center aperture of a base, to which it is to be connected, comprising a device for straightening and centering a lead of each lamp so that it is coaxial therewith, a hopper from which bases are automatically fed each to a position above an adjusted lamp, a lamp lead-threading device under which each lamp is sequentially centered and which serves to support each base, a hollow wire guide reciprocable axially of said base, means for moving said wire guide downwardly through a shell positioned on said threading device, and then moving said device therewith until the coaxial part of said lead is threaded into said guide, means for then opening said threading device and dropping said shell along said wire guide and onto the bulb therebeneath, and means for then raising the wire guide, stripping off the associated shell, if necessary, and returning the threading device to initial position.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a hopper for base shells for sealed lamp bulbs, said hopper having a fixed bottom plate and a plate rotatable over said bottom plate and notched at its periphery for receiving one shell in each notch, in which the shell opens either upwardly or downwardly, means being provided for intermittently rotating said bottom plate one notch at a time, means reciprocable in said xed plate and first acting on notch-received shells by passing through the normal leadreceiving hole in each, as it is indexed in being moved by said notched plate, for ejecting such a shell if not having a hole or one big-enough, a guide over said hopper leading to said conveyor, a plunger reciprocable in said fixed plate adjacent said guide for next acting on each shell, means reciprocating said plunger to such an extent only that if it engages an upwardly-opening shell it will feedl it to said guide, while if it engages a downwardly-opening shell it will be received therein and not move said shell into said guide, means then acting on remaining downwardly-opening shells for removing them one by one from said notches into said hopper for reorientation, means near the forward end of said guide for checking movement of said shells, and a collar device for picking said shells one by one from said forward end and swinging them for movement to position with respect to indexed lamp bulbs to which they are to be connected.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, relating to the particular arrangement and construction of the various parts, will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In the scale drawing:

Figure l is a diagrammatic plan of apparatus embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of one of the heads of 2,698,987 Patented Jan. 11, 1955 the apparatus of Figure l, showing a lamp bulb as placed thereon, and viewed on the line of Il-Il of said figure;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of one of said bulbcarrying heads, on the line 1IIIII of Figure 1, in the direction of arrows;

Figure 4 is an elevational view of one of said bulbcarrying heads, on the line IV--IV of Figure l, in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 5 is an elevational view of one of said bulbcarrying heads, on the line V-V of Figure 1, in the direction of the arrows, and indicating the operation of bending the inside lead from a downwardly extending to an upstanding position;

Figure 6 is an elevational View of one of said bulbcarrying heads, on the line VI-VI of Figure 1, and indicating how the upwardly bent lead, shown in Figure 5, is shaped and its upper portion disposed axial of the lamp bulb;

Figure 7 is an elevational view with parts in vertical section, showing how the presence of a lamp on the conveyor and while at a certain station effects a release of a base shell for assembly therewith;

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view of that portion of the apparatus shown in Figure l, at the extreme right-hand end and on the line VIII- VIII thereof, in the direction of the arrows, and showing a base shell in position on the lamp bulb lead-wire threading device;

Figure 9 is a vertical sectional view of the upper portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 8, above the line A-A of said figure;

Figure l0 is a vertical sectional View of the line X-X of Figure 8, in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 11 is a fragmentary elevational View showing the upper portion of apparatus for releasing base shells When a lamp bulb is in position, the parts being shown in releasing position;

Figure l2 is a view corresponding to Figure l1 but showing the parts in non-releasing position;

Figure 13 is a vertical sectional view of the hopper from which base shells are fed to lamp bulbs on the conveyor of the assembling apparatus of Figure 1, on the line XIII-XIII of Figure 14, showing the shell-feeding plunger in lower position;

Figure 14 is plan oi the hopper, also shown fragmentarily at the right-hand end of Figure l;

Figure l5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view also on the line XlII-XIII of Figure 14, but with the shellfeeding plunger shown in upper position;

Figure 16 is a fragmentary sectional view, also on the line XIII--Xlll of Figure 14, but showing how the plunger acts on a base shell when improperly disposed open-enddown in one of the rotatable hopper plate notches;

Figure l7 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line XVII-XVII of Figure 14;

Figure 18 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line XVlII--XVIII of Figure 14;

Figure 19 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, corresponding to Figure 8 but showing a position in which a base shell has been released and dropped to the lower end of a feeding chute, prior to being pushed to the threading device;

Figure 20 is a view corresponding to Figure 19, but showing the next position, which corresponds with that of Figure 8 in which the base shell has been pushed to the left and deposited on the lead-wire-threading device;

Figure 2l is a View corresponding to Figure 20, but showing a subsequent position in which a hollow wire guide has been moved down through the shell to register with the lead-receiving aperture in the threading device and the lead wire of the lamp bulb therebeneath;

Figure 22 is a view corresponding to Figure 21, but showing the next position in which the threading device had descended with the hollow lead-wire guide, allowing the base to move down with the associated guide along the threaded wire;

Figure 23 is a view corresponding to Figure 22, but showing the next position in which the threading device has opened to allow the base shell to drop down onto the lamp positioned therebeneath along the upstanding lead thereof, the cement on the inner surface of said shell ice engaging the outer surface of the lamp bulb in preparation for being connected thereto;

Figure 24 is a view corresponding to Figure 23, but showing the next position in which the wire guide has been raised and the base, if necessary, stripped oif;

Figure 25 is a fragmentary plan of the apparatus in the position shown in Figure 23;

Figure 26 is a View corresponding to Figure 24, but showing a subsequent position in which the parts of the threading device have returned to the position of Figure 22, for subsequent raising to initial or normal position indicitetll in dotted lines, and as shown in Figures 19, 20, an 2 Figure 27 is a view of a conveyer head with a lamp and assembled base shell thereon, showing said shell pushed down on said lamp and the outer lead wire bent up, at the position Z7 of Figure l;

Figure 28 is a view of a conveyer head, with a lamp assembled base shell thereon, at the position 28 of Figure 1 where the outer lead is accurately positioned, by rotation about the lamp base if necessary.

The present invention has to do with a method and machine for assembling lamp bulbs with base shells, preparatory to the actual cementing and soldering of said shells to said lamps. Such machine comprises a generally horizontal conveyer having a plurality of heads, each of which is adapted to grip the filament enclosing or bowl portion of a sealed lamp bulb so as to allow for subsequent centering adjustment. Such conveyer is indexed step by step as by means of a cam-ratchet-andpawl drive, so that each head stops at stations along said conveyor, some stations being provided for loading with sealed lamp bulbs having their leads bent down, which loading may be a hand operation. Means are provided at the succeeding station for centering a head-supported bulb longitudinally of its line of movement. At the next station means are provided for centering the bulb transversely of its line of movement. At the next station the lead at the inside of the bulb is bent up, followed by a shaping along the bulb of the bent-up lead at the succeeding station, and the disposition of the part beyond the bulb so that it lies coaxial with said bulb and the supporting head.

In order to insure that the bulbs on the conveyer are met, at the proper station, each by a base shell, l have provided a hopper having a fixed bottom plate and a rotatable plate notched at its periphery for receiving one shell in each notch, said shell opening either upwardly or downwardly. Means are provided for intermittently rotating said notched plate, one notch at a time. There is a wire gage reciprocable in the fixed plate and rst acting on each notch-received shell, as it is moved along upon rotation of said notched plate, and passing through the normal lead-receiving-hole in each as it is indexed in being moved by said notched plate, in order to eject such a shell from the hopper if it lacks a hole or the hole is not big enough.

A guide is provided over said hopper leading to the conveyor for the lamp bulbs. A plunger reciprocates in the fixed hopper plate adjacent the guide, for acting on each shell when it reaches that position after being tested by the wire. The plunger is reciprocated to such an extent only that if it engages an upwardly-opening shell it will feed it to the guide, while if it engages a downwardly-opening shell it will be received therein and not move said shell into said guide. At the end of the guide there is provided means for temporarily stopping movement of the shells, so that each is fed for assembly with a bulb only when there is a bulb properly positioned for that purpose. Means are provided for acting on downwardly-opening shells remaining in said notches for returning them one by one to the hopper for reorientation.

In order to provide for releasing shells only when a bulb is in the proper place on the conveyer, I provide means, at the station after that at which the bent-up lead is shaped and actuated by a conveyer-carried bulb thereat, for releasing the forward one of the guide-carried shells for subsequent assembly with that particular bulb, thereby insuring that no shell is released if there will be no bulb for assembly therewith. A collar device is provided for picking said shells one by one from the forward end of the guide, when so released, and swinging the picked-up shell forwardly and downwardly. A vertical chute is provided for receiving base shells from said collar device.

In order to insure that the shells are properly assembled with the conveyer-carried bulbs, I provide a lead wire threading device directly over the bulb on the conveyor which is indexed at the station where the shells are fed thereto, as well as means for pushing said shell from the bottom of the feeding chute to said threading device. I also provide a hollow wire guide reciprocable axially of the bulb, with means for moving said guide downwardly through a shell positioned on said threading device, and then moving said threading device therewith until the coaxial part of the lead of a lamp bulb therebeneath on said conveyor is threaded into said guide. The threading device is then opened to drop the shell along the Wire guide and wire onto the bulb therebeneath, said wire guide being then raised, stripping off the associated shell, if necessary, and the threading device is returned to initial position.

At a subsequent station along the conveyor, I provide means for pushing the assembled shell down on its bulb and bending up the outside lead. At the next station I provide for properly positioning the outside lead preparatory to a transfer of the assembled parts to a basing machine.

Detailed description of machine Referring now to the drawing in detail, like parts being designated by like reference characters, and first considering the apparatus illustrated in Figures 1 to 10 inclusive, as one embodiment of my invention, there is shown in Figure l a fragmentary plan of a conveyor 31 comprising an endless chain 32 rotating step-by-step about pulleys 33 and 34, as by means of a cam on the drive shaft 61, a lever operated thereby, and ratchet and pawl mechanism, none of which is shown, so that it indexes at one station after another as spaced therealong, and carrying a plurality of heads 35 particularly adapted for holding spherical bulbs. Each head 35, when viewed in the direction of movement, appears as in Figure 2, while when viewed in a direction transverse to its movement, it appears as in Figure 3. That is, each head is provided with a pair of clamping members 36 and 37 pivoted to a collar, or outer portion, 38 of the head 35, as indicated at 39 and 41. A spring device 42 encircles each head and acts on the clamping members 36 and 37, to cause them to resiliently hold a sealed generally spherical lamp bulb 43 therebetween, as shown most clearly in Figure 3. If bulbs of other shapes are processed, suitable modification is made.

After charging a lamp bulb 43 to a head, while indexed at one of the charging stations designated 2 in Figure 1, the conveyor moves clockwise, that is, the head moves to the right as viewed in Figure 1 until it reaches and indexes at station 3, where means 44 and 45 engage the stub 46 on the neck of the lamp bulb to center it, as allowed for by the bowl-gripping jaws 36 and 37, in a direction along its line of movement. At the next station, designated 4, the bulb is centered in a similar man ner but transverse to its line of movement, as by memben 47 and 48 which move to engage opposite sides of the tip 46 as shown in Figure 4.

At station 5, a blade 49 moves upwardly along the bulb 43 to bend the inside lead 51 from a position extending downwardly along the bulb, to one where it extends in a generally upward direction as viewed in Figure 5.

in Figure 6 the upwardly bent lead 5l is shaped, as by means of a number oi metal wires 52, backed by a rubber cushion 53, which cause said lead to follow the shape of the stub 46. Tilting of the bulb during this operation is prevented by the backing member 54 which carries a forming jaw 55 with a notch in which the stub 46 of the bulb 43 is received.

The portion of said wire extending above said stub is straightened and caused to extend axial of the bulb and the supporting head, by engagement of a forming jaw 56, also carried by the member 54, and by means of a pair of wire gripping members 57 and 58. The latter each comprises blades 59 which interleave with those of the other' and, by means of alternately-inclined surfaces, provide a varying aperturetherebetween in which the wire is straightened in accordance with understood principles. The members 57 and 53 after gripping, pull upwardly from the position illustrated in full lines to that in dotted lines in Figure 6, thereby leaving the uppermost part of said Wire straight and axially disposed with respect to its bulb and the supporting head.

The conveyor drive shaft 61, is synchronized with the associated basing machine. It may carry a sprocket wheel 50 chain driven from an electric motor or other power means (not shown), which also turns the base shell feeding plate 62 in the hopper 60 through bevel gear 63 meshing the bevel gear 64 fixed on hopper driven shaft 65. The latter, now referring to Figures 13 to 18, incl., carries a bevel gear 66 at its upper end, in turn meshing with a bevel gear 67 on the hopper operating shaft 68. The shaft 68 carries a cam wheel 69 in the peripheral track 71 of which rides a roller 72 carried by an operating lever '73. The latter is pivoted to the hopper 60 by a pin 74- and connected to the plate moving lever 75 by a connecting rod 76.

The lever 75 is pivoted to the hopper by the same pin 77 which carries the plate 62. It carries a pawl 78 pivoted thereto at 79 and urged into operative engagement with a notch 81 in the shell feeding plate 62 by means of a spring 82. The free end of said pawl 78 is beveled, as indicated at 83, so as to ride over the notched edge of the plate 62 upon return movement.. A lever 84 is pivoted to the frame of the hopper 60 at 85, and operated by a cam wheel 86 in the peripheral track 87 of which a roller 88 mounted thereon depends. The free end of the lever 84 carries a tooth 89 which, when the lever is moved toward the hopper 60, fits in a notch 81 and prevents undesired movement of the plate 62.

A lever 91 is pivoted to the frame of the hopper 60 at 92 and operated by a roller 93 pivotally carried thereby and fitting in the track 94 of a cam wheel 95 mounted on and driven by shaft 68. Carried by the free end portion of the iever 91 is a base-shell-feeding plunger 96, pivotally mounted on a threaded fulcrum member 97, as indicated at 98. The member 97 is adjustably mounted on the end of the lever 91 by being threaded thereinto, as indicated at 99, and held in adjusted position by stop nuts 101 and 102. Reciprocation of the plunger 96, upon turning of the shaft 68, feeds base shells 100 to the guiding channel 1113, if said shells are upwardlyopening, as indicated in Figures 13 and l5, while being merely received therein and not displacing them substantially from the receiving notch 81 in the shell-feeding plate 62, if in a downwardly opening position as indicated in Figure 16.

In order to gage the lead-receiving holes in base shells 101i, l provide a wire gage member 104 carried by lever 105, pivoted to the hopper frame asv indicated at 106 and operated by carrying a roller 107 fitting in a track 1118 in a cam wheel 109, also carried by shaft 68. This wire gage is, therefore, reciprocated in the hopper and alternately passes into notches 81 in the plate 62 as the same indexes, not disturbing base shells in which lead apertures are present and sul'liciently large, but rather reciprocating in such apertures as indicated in Figure 18; but ejeeting such shells, which have no, or too small, lead apertures, by raising them from the corresponding notches as they are indexed at the position of said figure, for being blown into a trough or chute 111 along which they slide from the hopper 60.

Any base shell 100 which has been passed by the gage wire 104, but is disposed in a notch 81 in an inverted or open-end-down position, so that it is not fed to the guide 103, will upon reaching the position represented in Figure 17, be removed from its notch into the hopper 60 for reorientation, by a blast of air from the pipe 112. The air is periodically released to the pipe 112 at the proper time by engagement of the lever 84 with the valve stem 113 of the valve 114 in the compressed air supply line 115. Opening of this valve 114 also admits air to pipe 116 which acts on any shell, raised upon rejection by the wire gage 104, and blows it into the chute 111 for removal from hopper.

After being fed to the guide 103, each shell travels by gravity open-end-first until it is stopped, as indicated in Figure 9, by a brake member 117 resiliently urged thereagainst by a leaf spring 118. This means that during the operation of the hopper, base shells tend to accumulate behind the foremost one held by the brake device 117, until a release of said device to allow said shells to be fed one by one to a swing carrier member or collar 119, which oscillates from the position shown in Figure 9 to the left and down to drop a base shell carried thereby into the downwardly extending chute 121, where it is nally received at the bottom on a table or support 122 as shown in Figure 19.

In order to effect a release of base shells one at a time from the brake device 117, as needed, I provide brake release means which is actuated by a bulb being present between stations designated 6 and 7 in Figure 1. The presence of a bulb, in passing between said stations, moves the trigger 122 against the action of return spring 123 from the dotted line position to the full line position, thereby moving the bell crank lever 124 by the pin 125 carried thereon and received in notch 126 in the left hand arm of said lever, as viewed in Figure l. A forked finger 180 reciprocates to and from the lead 51 at station 7, to return it to vertical position in case it was displaced during engagement of the bulb with the trigger 122.

This counter-clockwise rotation of said lever about its pivot 127, moves the rod 128 carried by its other arm from the position shown in full lines to that shown in dotted lines in Figure l2 and in Figure 11. (See also Figs. 7 and 8.) This in turn moves the rod 129, to which the rod 128 is articulated as indicated at 131, to the right as viewed in Figures l1 and 12 so that when engaged by the reciprocating rod 132, the thin and ineffective-forrelease part of its head 133 is moved out of the way and the thick part 130 raises the effective height of the rod 132 and engages the adjustable set screw 134 carried by the brake member 117, thereby releasing said brake member, and allowing a base shell held thereby to slide to the feeding collar 119. The latter is oscillated by a gear 135 carried on a shaft 136 on which said member 119 is mounted, and engaged by a rack portion 140 of said rod 132.

Reciprocation of the rod 132 is caused by oscillation of the base pusher lever 137 pivoted to a frame portion of the machine at 138, and its lower end portion is articulated to one end of a lever 160, pivoted to a support 30 upstanding from the base 40 of the machine, as indicated at 70. The other end portion of the lever carries a roller 139 riding in a track 141 in a cam 142 mounted on the conveyor drive shaft 61. Oscillation of this lever 137 by the lever 160 causes reciprocation of the pusher element 143, which in turn carries a plate 144 upstanding therefrom and provided with a diagonal slot 145 in which rides a roller 146 carried by a head 147 on the lower end of the rod 132.

It will thus be seen that a base shell is released only when a lamp bulb is ready to be positioned, so that such a shell is dropped to the position shown in Figure 19 at the same time a lamp bulb is about to be moved to the position there shown.

The next operation is for the pusher element 143 to move the positioned base shell to that represented in Figures 8 and 20. During such movement the pivoted flap 148, which prevents undesired displacement of said shell, is swung outwardly and upwardly to the position of said gures, while at the same time moving said shell to accurately position it over the wire-guiding aperture 149 in a lead wire threading device 151. This threading device is formed in two parts, designated 152 and 153, which are swingable from closed position, illustrated in Figures 19 to 22, inclusive, to open position illustrated in Figures 23, 24, 25, and back to closed position as illustrated in Fig. 26, as by having its parts respectively mounted on the ends of arms 154 and 155, which are in turn pivotally mounted with respect to the carrying block 179 as indicated at 156 and 157.

One of said arms is continued rearwardly beyond its pivot 157, and carries roller 158 engageable at the proper time by opener arm 159, shown in Figures 8, 10, and 25. The latter is oscillated by being carried on a shaft 161 and thus pivoted to the frame of the machine7 the lower end of which shaft carries an arm 170 on the end of which is pivoted a roller 162 traveling in a track 163 of a cam 164 mounted on the shaft 61. Rotation of the arm 155 also effects rotation of the arm 154 in the opposite direction due to intermeshing gear portions 165 and 166 respectively carried by the hub portions of the arms 154 and 155. Return movement of the arms 154 and 155, to closed position of the threader, is effected by spring 167, the ends of which are respectively connected to said arms, as shown in Figure 25. The arm 155 also carries a stripper member 168 for removing a shell from the wire guide 169, if necessary.

Vertical movement of the threading device 151 is effected in the desired manner by means of a cam 171 on the drive shaft 61 acting on a roller 172 carried by a lever 173 pivoted to a standard 174 on the base 40, as indicated at 175. (Figs. 8 and 10.) The other end of the lever 173 is bifurcated, as indicated at 176, and operatively receives a pin 177 mounted in, and extending between bifurcations at the bottom of, the shaft 178 which carries the block 179 to which are pivoted the arms 154 and 155 of the threading device 151. The shaft 178 reciprocates in a guide member 180 upstanding from the base 40 of the machine.

The wire guide 169, which cooperates with the threader 151 in properly assembling bases with bulbs, is moved vertically as desired by means of a cam 181 on the drive shaft 61 acting on a roller 182 carried by a lever 183 pivoted to a standard 184 on the base 40. The other end of the lever 183 is operatively connected to a lever 185 by means of a connecting rod 186. The lever 185 is pivoted to a standard 187 on the base 40, as indicated at 188. One end of said lever 185 is bifurcated, as indicated at 189, and operatively receives a pin 191 mounted in, and extendinfr between bifurcations at the top of, the shaft 192 which carries the guide 169 at its lower end. The shaft 192 reciprocates in a guiding standard 193 extending from the base 40 and to which the chute 121 is secured, as by a set screw 194. A return spring 19t) extends between the other end of the lever 185 and the standard 187.

After the application of a shell 100 to a lamp bulb 37 at position 2t), the assembled parts at position 27 are held down by member 195, provided with a conicallyopening lower end 196 which lits over the end of the shell as indicated in Figure 27, pushing said shell down tightly over the bulb. At the same time, a blade 197 raises the outer lead 198 from the dotted to the full-line position, preparatory to its connection with the shell.

At position 2S of Figure 1, the assembled parts are engaged by a spreading-and-twisting member 199, as shown in Fig. 25, formed with a notch 201 to receive the lead 193, and conical lower surfaces 292 to pry apart the clamping members 36 and 37, and thereby allow free rotary movement of the parts about the vertical axis, if necessary to bring the lead 198 to the desired position in the notch 201.

Operario/z From the foregoing description of the construction of the machine, it will be seen that in the normal operation thereof, bulbs are charged to heads at one of the positions or stations designated 2 in Figure l, while said heads 35, are being indexed station-to-station. At station 3, each bulb 43 is centered by the members 44 and 45 one way, longitudinally of the line of movement, for example, and at station 4 the other way by the members 47 and 48, transversely of the line of movement, for example, so that it then stands with its axis vertical. At station 5, the inner lead wire 51 is bent up, and at station 6 said lead wire is finally shaped about the tip of the bulb, and the portion thereof projecting therebeyond accurately positioned so that it stands axially of the bulb and the supporting head.

Between stations 6 and 7 the bulb moves the trigger or base release device 122 to permit the feeding of a base shell 16S from the hopper 6i) to the position beneath the guide 121, preparatory to being pushed directly over a buib to which it is to be connected as the releasing bulb is moved to index at station 20. Absence of a bulb at station 6 results in no release of a base shell.

The base shells 160 in the hopper 60 are prepared for feeding to bulbs by being first caught in the peripheral notches 31 of the plate 62 which rotates step by step, counter-clockwise as viewed in Fig. 14, each shell being first tested for central lead wire aperture size, as indicated in Figure 18, being ejected to the discard chute 111 by a blast of air from pipe 116, if not provided with a hole of sufiicient size. lf satisfactory, and closed end down, it is fed to a g-uide or gravity-feeding delivery chute 103, as indicated in Figure l5, while left in the notch if its closed end is up, as indicated in Figure 16. lf not fed to the guide 103 for use, as illustrated in Fig. l5, it is finally ejected from its notch by a blast of air, as indicated in Figure 17, for reorientation in the hopper.

Each base shell, after being released from the lower end of the chute 103 and dropped by the feeding collar 119 to the bottom of the chute 121 as shown in Figure 19,

is pushed out over the threading device 151, as shown in Figures 8 and 20, where it overlies a positioned bulb 43 at station 28. The wire guide 169 then descends through the lead wire aperture in the base shell to the position of Figure 2l, where it lits over the aperture in the threading device 151. The wire guide 169 is resiliently mounted, as by sliding in the holder 283 against the action of coil spring 204, so that it will at the proper times always engage, but not exert undue pressure against, the threading device 151.

Next, the threading device, base shell, and wire guide descend to the position of Figure 22, where the upstanding lead 51 is funneled through the aperture in the wire threader 151, and into the wire guide 169. The parts 151 and 169 thus act to funnel the lead into the shell aperture. The next operation as illustrated in Figures 23 and 25, is to release the base shell 100 by separating the parts 152 and 153 of the threading device 151, which operation is effected by engagement of the member 159 with the roller 158 on the lever 155 of said part 153, as viewed in Figure 25. This allows the base shell to slide off the guide 169 and down along the lead 51, effecting assembly of the base shell with the bulb.

The next operation is the raising of the wire guide to the position of Figure 24, where the base shell, if it has stuck to the guide, is stripped therefrom by the element 168, so that it will then drop down along the wire 51 on the bulb therebelow. After this, the wire threader parts 152 and 153 swing back to closed position, indicated in full lines, and Athe threader then returns to its initial position, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 26.

The assembled bulb and base then pass on until reaching station 27, where the base shell is held down on the bulb while the outside lead wire is bent up. At station 28, the clamps 36 and 37 on the head 35 are pried apart to release the bulb which is, if necessary, twisted to properly position the outer lead wire in the notch 201 of the twisting device 199. From station 23 each bulb and its base shell move on to finally be engaged by automatic mechanism 265 which transfers them to a machine for cementing the assembled base shell to the bulb.

Although a preferred embodiment of my invention has been disclosed, it will be understood that modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A machine for assembling sealed lamp bulbs with base shells preparatory to basing, comprising a device for straightening and centering a lead of each bulb so that it is coaxial therewith, a hopper' from which base shells are automatically fed each to a position above a soadjusted lamp, a lamp lead threading device formed of two arms synchronously swinging about vertical pivots between open and closed positions and when closed forming a wire-guiding aperture under which each lamp is sequentially centered, said arms also when closed serving to support each shell in succession, a hollow wire guide reciprocable axially of said shell, means for moving said wire guide downwardly through a shell after it is positioned on said threading7 device, and then moving said device therewith, until the coaxial part of said lead is threaded through said aperture and into said guide, means for then opening said arms to drop said shell along said guide and lead, onto the bulb therebeneath, means for then raising said wire guide, and means for then raising the threading device to initial position.

2. A machine for assembling sealed lamp bulbs with base shells preparatory to basing, comprising a hopper for such shells, said hopper having a xed bottom and a plate rotatable over said bottom and notched at its periphery for receiving one shell in each notch, in which the shell opens either upwardly or downwardly, means for intermittently rotating said plate one notch at a time, means reciprocahle in said fixed bottom and tirst acting on notch-received shells by passing through the normal leadreceiving hole in each as it is indexed in being moved by said notched plate, for ejecting such a shell if not having a lead hole or one big enough, a gravity-feeding delivery chute over said hopper, a plunger reciprocable in said bottom adjacent said chute for acting on each shell, means reciprocating said plunger to such an extent only that if it engages an upwardly-opening shell it will feed it directly to said chute to transport it separately and independently for assembly with a bulb, while if it engages a downwardly-opening shell, it will be received therein and not move said shell into said chute, means then acting on remaining downwardly-opening shells for removing them one by one from said notches into said hopper for reorientation, means near the lower end of said chute for checking movement of said shells, and a device for picking said shells one by one from said lower end, swinging each shell about a generally hori- Zontal axis until its axis is approximately vertical, and then dropping it for axial movement to a desired position with respect to a lamp bulb to which it is to be connected.

3. A machine for assembling sealed lamp bulbs with base shells preparatory to basing, comprising a conveyor for indexing such bulbs one by one at a series of stations, a lamp lead-threading device formed of two arms synchronously swinging about vertical pivots between open and closed positions and when closed forming a wire-guiding aperture at one of said stations, means for pushing a shell to said threading device, a hollow wire guide at said station and reciprocable axially of a bulb when indexed at said station, means for moving said wire guide downwardly through a shell after it is positioned on said threading device, and then moving said threading device therewith until one of the leads of a lamp bulb therebeneath on said conveyor is threaded through said aperture and into said guide, means for then opening said arms to drop said shell along said guide and wire onto the bulb therebeneath, means for then raising the wire guide, and means for then returning the threading device to initial position.

4. A machine for assembling sealed lamps with base shells preparatory to basing, comprising a generally horizontal conveyor, heads on said conveyor each of which is adapted to resiliently grip the bulb portion of a sealed lamp, stations along said conveyor at which each head is indexed in order, means at one station for centering a head-supported bulb longitudinally of its line of movement, means at the next station for centering said bulb transversely of its line of movement, means at the next station for bending up a lead of said lamp, means at the next station for shaping said bent-up lead along said lamp and disposing the part beyond the bulb coaxial with the supporting head, means at the station next to that at which the bent-up lead is shaped and actuated by a conveyor-carried lamp thereat for releasing a shell for assembly with said lamp, a lamp lead threading device for insuring that said shell will be properly assembled with said bulb, means for pushing each shell onto said threading device, a hollow wire guide reciprocable axially of said bulb when under said threading device, means for moving said wire guide downwardly through a shell positioned on said threading device and then moving said threading device therewith until the coaxial part of the lead of the bulb therebeneath is threaded into said guide, means for then opening said threading device to drop said shell along said guide and wire onto the bulb therebeneath, means for then raising the wire guide, and means for then returning the threading device to initial position.

5. A machine for assembling sealed lamp bulbs with base shells preparatory to basing, comprising a generally horizontal conveyor, heads on said conveyer, each of which is adapted to grip the bowl portion of a sealed lamp bulb, stations along said conveyor at which each head is indexed in order, some of said stations being for loading said conveyor with sealed lamp bulbs having their leads bent down, means at the succeeding station for centering a head-supported bulb longitudinally of its line of movement, means at the next station for centering said bulb transversely of its line of movement, means at the next station for bending up a lead of said bulb, means at the next station for shaping said bent-up lead along said bulb and disposing the part beyond said bulb coaxial with said head, a hopper for base shells for said bulbs, said hopper having a fixed bottom and a plate rotatable over said bottom and notched at its periphery for receiving one shell in each notch, said shell opening either upwardly or downwardly, means for intermittently rotating said plate, one notch at a time, means reciprocable in said fixed bottom and first acting on the notchreceived shells by passing through the normal lead-receiving hole in each, as it is indexed in being moved by said notched plate, for ejecting such a shell if not having a big-enough hole, a gravity-feeding delivery chute over said hopper leading to said conveyor. a plunger reciprocable in said bottom adjacent said chute for next acting on each shell, means reciprocating said plunger to such an extent only that if it engages an upwardly-opening shell it will feed it to said chute, while if it engages a downwardly-opening shell it will be received therein and not move said shell into said chute, means then acting on remaining downwardly-opening shells for removing them one by one from said notches into said hopper for reorientation, means near the end of said chute for checking movement of said shells, means at the station next to that at which the bent-up lead is shaped, and actuated by a conveyor-carried bulb thereat, for releasing the forward one of said chute-carried shells, a collar device for picking said shells one by one from the lower end of said chute, when released by means actuated by a bulb on said conveyor, and swinging it forwardly and downwardly, a vertical chute for receiving base shells from said collar device, a lamp lead threading device directly over an indexed bulb on said conveyor at the next station, means for pushing each shell from the bottom of said vertical chute to said threading device, a hollow wire guide reciprocable axially of said bulb, means for moving said wire guide downwardly through a shell positioned on said threading device, and then moving said threading device therewith until the coaxial part of the lead of a lamp bulb therebeneath on said conveyor is threaded into said guide, means for then opening said threading device to drop said shell along said wire guide and wire onto the bulb therebeneath, means for then raising the wire guide and returning the threading device to initial position, means at a succeeding station for pushing the assembled shell down on its bulb and bending up the outside lead, and means at the next station for properly positioning said outside lead preparatory to transfer of the assembled parts to a basing machine.

6. A machine for assembling sealed lamp bulbs with base shells preparatory to basing, comprising a hopper for such shells, said hopper having a fixed bottom and a plate rotatable over said bottom and notched at its periphery for receiving one shell in each notch, in which the shell opens either upwardly or downwardly, means for intermittently rotating said plate one notch at a time, a gravity-feeding delivery chute over said hopper, a plunger reciprocable in said fixed plate adjacent said chute for acting on each shell, means reciprocating said plunger to such an extent only that if it engages an upwardly-opening shell it will feed it directly to said chute to transport it separately and independently for assembly with a bulb, while if it engages a downwardly-opening shell, it will be received therein and not move said shell into said chute, means near the lower end of said chute for checking movement of said shells, and a device for picking said shells one by one from said lower end of said chute, swinging each shell about a generally horizontal axis until its axis is approximately vertical. and then dropping it for axial movement to a desired position with respect to a lamp bulb to which it is to be connected.

7. A machine for assembling sealed lamp bulbs having bowl and neck portions with base shells preparatory to basin, comprising a generally horizontal conveyor, heads on said conveyor each of which has holding jaws adapted to resiliently grip the bowl portion of a sealed lamp bulb, stations along said conveyor at which each head is indexed in order, means at one station for centering the head-supported bulb longitudinally of its line of movement, means at the next station for centering said bulb transversely of its line of movement. means at the next station for bending up a lead of said bulb. means at the next station for shaping said bent-up lead along said bulb and disposing the part beyond said bulb coaxial with the supporting head, a hopper along the line of movement of said lamps and from which bases are automatically gravity fed the entire distance therefrom to said conveyor heads as they are indexed at a certain station, means at the station next to that at which the bentup lead is shaped and actuated by a conveyor-carried bulb thereat for releasing a shell from said hopper for assembly with said bulb, and means for subsequently prying apart said holding jaws to release each bulb and insure that it is oriented in proper position preparatory to transferring the assembled parts to a base machine.

8. A machine for assembling sealed lamp bulbs with base shells preparatory to basing, comprising a chain conveyor for carrying bulbs to a position for assembly with Such shells, a hopper for such shells, said hopper having means for ejecting defective shells and selecting only those shells which fall in a certain way in notches in a rotating plate thereof, a gravity-feeding inclined delivery chute over said hopper, means feeding said selected shells separately to said chute to transport them independently for assembly with said bulbs when at a certain position on said conveyor, and a device for picking said shells one by one from the lower end of said chute, swinging each shell about a generally horizontal axis until its axis is approximately vertical, and then dropping it for axial movement to a desired position with respect to a lamp bulb to which it is to be connected.

9. A machine for assembling sealed lamps with base shells preparatory to basing comprising a generally horizontal conveyor, heads on said conveyor each of which is adapted to resiliently grip the bulb portion of a sealed lamp, stations along said conveyor at which each lamp is indexed in order, means at one station for centering the head-supported bulb longitudinally of its line of movement, means at the next station for centering said bulb transversely of its line of movement, means at the next station for bending up a lead of said lamp, means at the next station for shaping the bent-up lead along said lamp and disposing the part beyond the bulb coaxial with the supporting head, a hopper' for base shells for said lamps, said hopper having a fixed bottom and a plate re tatable over said bottom and provided with notches for each receiving one shell, whereby said received shells will open either upwardly or downwardly, means for intermittently rotating said plate one notch at a time, means reeiprocable in said bottom and first acting on the notchreceived shells by passing through the normal lead-receiv ing hole in each as it is indexed, for ejecting such a shell if not having a hole of proper size, a gravity-feeding delivery chute over said hopper leading to said conveyor, a plunger reciprocable in said bottom adjacent said chute for next acting on each shell, means reciprocating said plunger to such an extent only that if it engages an upwardly-opening shell it will feed it directly to said chute to transport it separately and independently for assembly with a bulb, while if it engages a downwardlyopening shell it will not move the same into said chute, means then acting on remaining downwardly-opening shells for removing them one by one to said hopper for reorientation, means near the end of said chute for checking movement of said shells, and a device for picking said shells one by one from the lower end of said chute, swinging each shell about a generally horizontal axis until its axis is approximately vertical, and then dropping it for axial movement to a desired position with respect to a lamp to which it is to be connected, means at the station next to that at which the bent-up lead is shaped and actuated by a conveyor-carried lamp thercat for releasing a shell from said hopper for assembly with said lamp.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,612,537 Schroeder Dec. $926 1,817,746 Gooskens et al. Aug. 4, i931 2,120,877 Uber .lune 14, 1938 2,251,434 Weiss et al. Aug. 5, 1941 2,380,742 Flaws July 31, 1945 2,536,677 Brunner et al. Jan. 2, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 528,346 Great Britain Oct. 28, 1940 

